Ford's Model T Mission Statement: “I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one- and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces.”
According to an Australian government report, a life cycle assessment (LCA) “Is a tool for assessing the environmental impacts associated with a product, process or service throughout its life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials through to the processing, transport, use, reuse, recycling and disposal.” LCA is commonly known as cradle to grave as it is from the birth of the product right through to its final stage.
There are a number of benefits that can be realized from completing a life cycle assessment (LCA) on a product. According to the Australian government some of these benefits include:                identifying the most efficient options for increasing the environmental performance of a product, and creating a “greener” product that is more desirable to customers;        identifying places in the company where efficiency improvements can be made;        reducing greenhouse emissions;        comparing alternative choices;        identifying the most relevant steps in the manufacturing process related to a given environmental impact;        providing a tool for decision making        
However, LCA is a “new technology” and hence there are some challenges in conducting an LCA. Some of these challenges include (Australian Government):                Lack of a widely accepted methodology for conducting LCA;        Difficulties of defining the scope and boundaries of the LCA;        Confidentiality issues that restrict the availability of relevant data;        Time taken to complete a full LCA.        
There are four stages/steps to conducting an LCA as defined by the ISO 14040 standards, these steps are:
1. Goal and Scope Analysis: These are the specifications of the LCA study; it suggests what questions are going to be answered and identifies who the study is for. It also defines the purpose, barriers and limitations of the study. The final part of the scope defines the data required to fulfil the requirements.
2. Inventory Analysis (IA): The inventory analysis is the step where data is gathered, and data from each material and process are qualified and validated. This step can be very difficult because of concerns over revealing proprietary and/or confidential information.
3. Life Cycle Impact Analysis: According to the ISO 14044 impact analysis is the phase of life cycle analysis aimed at understanding and evaluating the magnitude and significance of the potential environmental impacts for a product system throughout the life of the product.
4. Improvement Analysis: An objective of this phase is to improve the environmental performance of the project or process in question. That is to compare all the data and results to see how they can be used to make improvements in the product or manufacturing.